Join us at the PA Civics Forum

(Note the new date: November 13)

Welcome back, teachers!

PA Civics is proud to host its third professional development forum for educators, this time in Scranton. This year's theme: “Teaching America’s 250th Anniversary: Understanding Our Past, Shaping What’s Next.”

The previously announced date for the conference was in September. However, due to a location conflict and demand exceeding our original space, we are moving it to Thursday, November 13th at Marywood University's School of Education. You can register here.

The 2025 PA Civics Educator Forum will convene teachers for a series of day-long, high-quality professional development sessions for educators. Sessions will emphasize themes like “reflective patriotism,” honoring both civic knowledge and civic action, and how to fulfill the promises of the founding documents for all Americans over the next 250 years. Sessions, organized and presented by PA Civics' nonpartisan members and northeastern PA community partners, will span ideology. Teachers will leave the forum with resources they can use in the classroom the very next day.

All teachers who attend will receive Act 48 credit. If you have any questions, you can reply to this email. We look forward to seeing you in Scranton!

Sign up for the PA Youth Mock Election

The PA Youth Mock Election is back! In 2024, we had nearly 20,000 students sign up, and final votes reported produced a result which was reflective of the state's actual vote tallies.

The Mock Election is available for free to all Pennsylvania teachers. C70 provides digital instructions for how classrooms can participate, plus access to C70's nonpartisan Interactive Voter Guide for students to research their choices. The Mock Election supplements C70's Elections & Voting curriculum (also free!), developed in partnership with our friends at PA Youth Vote.

We invite teachers to sign up before the election on Nov. 4th. Materials and customized ballots will be sent once your county has prepared its sample ballots.

Your class can interview candidates on November's ballot

C70 connects classrooms to candidates each election so students can interview the people running to represent them. C70 works with teachers to connect with candidates or public officials from all parties, across all levels of government. Students supply the questions on issues they care about, while C70 will set up the schedule. Most interviews, about 15-20 minutes long, are conducted via zoom so that they can be easily streamed on Facebook and recorded for the public to watch. See previous interviews on YouTube. Teachers can sign up here to request an interview.

Local Gov't STAR Cards - discussion questions for your classroom

This November, voters will choose candidates for local offices and the judiciary. This is a great opportunity for young students to learn about how local government impacts their lives and how they can have a say in their community.

C70's Local Government STAR Cards invite K-12 students to then share their opinions through thought-provoking discussion questions within three themes: building civic knowledge; promoting engagement; and practicing deliberation.

Every week this fall, teachers who sign up will receive a free set of four new digital STAR Cards in your inbox (plus two instruction cards). Use the cards to start a morning meeting, serve as a prompt for a writing assignment, or lead a full-class discussion.

Here's an example of the first set of cards that will be released tomorrow.

STAR Card #4

City or town councils exist throughout the United States. The purpose of the council is to decide on laws, services, and projects that will help their city. Do you have an idea for a project that you think would help your town or city? Describe how you think it would help.